Repeater air gun



E. E. FOSTER REPEATER AIR GUN Jan. 3, 1956 7 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 17, 1950 ATTORNEKS Jan. 3, 1956 v E. E. FOSTER 2,729,207

REPEATER AIR GUN Filed April 17, 1950 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 I b N INVENTOR EdwinEFosicr ATTORNEYJ E. E. FOSTER REPEATER AIR GUN Jan. 3, 1956 7 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed April 17, 1950 OH W I/ i INVENTOR Edwin E fbsl'er ATTORNEY6 Jan. 3, 1956 ,E. E. FOSTER REPEATER AIR GUN 7 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed April 17. 1950 I N VEN TOR. Eda/i121: fbsfer BY w fla /4% Jan. 3, 1956 Filed April 17, 1950 E. E. FOSTER REPEATER AIR GUN 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 I N VEN TOR.

Edugrz E Ester Jan. 3, 1956 E. E. FOSTER 2,729,207

REPEATER AIR GUN Filed April 17, 1950 '7 Sheets-Sheet 6 N a o Q l M Q \I N H h a l a Q i :I

Q i \l *3 fi Q INVENTOR. EdwmEf'bsi'er www E. E. FOSTER REPEATER AIR GUN Jan. 3, 1956 7 Sheets-Sheet 7 Filed April 17 1950' United S ates Patent-Q REPEATER AIR GUN Edwin E. Foster, Austin, Tex., assignor of one-half to Don 0. Scott, Detroit, Mich.

Application April 17, 1950, Serial No. 156,371

3 Claims. (Cl. 124-13) This invention relates to an air gun and more particularly to a repeater air gun to shoot any suitable object as, for instance, standard Celluloid balls known as ping pong balls.

It is an object of this invention to provide an air gun with means to cause a repeating action to propel the missile each time a piston is adjusted to its operative position.

A further object resides in the feeding of the balls, and magazine loading of a series of balls.

A still further object of the invention resides in the provision of means for filling the balls through a filler door in the end of the shoulder stock and the means for pumping the gun.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of a resilient restriction at the muzzle end of the barrel of the gun acting as a rubber seal which will flex backward to permit the balls to pass from the muzzle of the gun.

Further objects will be apparent from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Figures 1, 1A are side elevations of the gun,

Figs. 2, 2A, are longitudinal vertical sections of the gun,

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the detail of the muzzle end of the gun,

Fig. 4 is an end view of the piston, a cross sectional view, showing the sliding handle, and barrel of the gun,

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section of the end of the stock of the gun,

Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the piston and operator,

Fig. 7 is a cross section of the gun through the stock end of the gun,

Figs. 8 and 8A are longitudinal sections of a modified gun,

Figs. 9 and 10 are sectional views of the muzzle end of the gun of Figs. 8 and 8A showing modified structures, and

Fig. 11 is a side elevation of a detail of the piston.

As shown in Fig. 2, a tube or barrel 1 is provided of any suitable metal such as aluminum which has an inner diameter of such size that a standard ping pong ball will move freely therethrough. This tube 1 extends into a stock 2 of the gun andis provided with a door or closure 3, hinged to the stock 2 at the point 4. The door 3 is provided with a tension or connecting link 5 and a lever member 6 pivoted in the stock 2 at the point 7. The connecting link 5 hinges to lever 6 at the point 8 and to the door 3 at the point 9. The door 3 is provided with a rubber disc washer 10, which is compressed against a flange 11 of the tube 1 when the toggle formed by the link 5 and lever 6 is closed. The other end of the tube is provided with a flanged portion 12, against which a rubber washer 13 is clamped by means of a metal washer 14 and a turned over portion 15 of an enlarged portion of a short tube 16. This tube 16 is also about the size of the tube 1, that is of a diameter to just allow a ping pong ball to shoot out in a straight line after popping out of the restricted rubber washer 13 due to air pressure from the other side. A second tube 17 forms a pump cylinder. A sliding plunger 18 is provided with a leather or rubber cup 19 attached by means of a bumper washer 20 of rubber or other suitable material and a screw 21. The rubber cup structure 19 is Well known and has been used for a longtime in bicycle pumps for example in which the check valve of the tire requires the air to stream past the rubber or leather washer during the filling stroke for the air into the pump cylinder. The tube 17 is open on its front end (left in Fig. 2A), but is closed on its stock end (right in Fig. 2) by means of a plug member 22. A tubular member or tube 23 makes an air tight connection between the cylinder 17 at the plug 22 and the rear end of the tube 1 and is provided with a check-valve 24, which prevents the air from returning after the piston or plunger 18 is moved forward to the left in Fig. 2A. A sliding hand grip member 25 is made in half sections, held together by rivets, as shown in Fig. 4, around the tube 1. A metal bracket 26 extends the length of the member 25, being held by four rivets 27 and extends upward into and through a slot 28 in the plunger 18 by means of an extension 31. The plunger 18 may be made out of solid wood or it could be a hollow tubing of any suitable metal. A slot 42 is provided in the underside of the tube 17, extended from a point 29 where the bracket 26 hits this end of the slot 42 as a limit to the forward stroke of the handle 25 and piston 18, to the left in Fig. 2A, to a point 30 where the other side of the bracket extension 31 hits the end of the slot as a limit in that direction, to the right in Fig. 2A. This prevents the possibility of the fingers being pinched.

The stock 2 could be made of plastic in halves and riveted together, as shown. A clamp member 48 holds thetube 16 and the tube 17 together by means of rivets 32.

In order to load the gun of Figs. 1 to 6, it is merely necessary to pull down on a grip member 43 of the toggle link 6, Fig. 2, around the pivot pin 7, to move the second toggle lever 5 connected at 8 to the right which opens the closure 3 as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 5. A concave disc 44 is preferably secured to the closure 3 to aid in placing and inserting the balls 45 into the barrel 1 which, as shown, will hold a great number so that loading will be necessary less frequently. When the chamber in the barrel 1 is full, the lever 6 is pulled back from the dotted to the full line position whereby the toggle linkage will maintain the closure 3 in a closed position with the washer 10 held tightly against the flange 11. To accommodate the opening movement of the toggle, the stock member 2 is provided with a slot 46 in the underside of the stock.

The operation of the gun of Figs. 1 to 7 is as follows:

When the handle 25 is moved by sliding same to the right (the dotted line position in Fig. 2) the piston 18 moves the same distance, forcing air through the tube 23 by means of the cup 19, through the check-valve 24 and into the rear end of the sealed tube 1. One stroke of the pump is sufiicient to compress the air along the full length of the tube 1, to make the forward ball 47 flex the rubber washer 13 over the edge of the metal washer 14, as shown in Fig. 3 and thus, the ball Will pop out of the end of the guide section 16 of the barrel. The short section 16 adds to the noise and tends to make the ball go in a straight line. A second, or following ball 49 wedges itself into the rubber washer 13. Air may pass by the balls equalizing the pressure in the full length of the barrel 1, but the balls are so near the size of the containing tube that they also act partly as pistons and move forward as the ones ahead are individually shot out. The size of the hole in the metal washer 14 should be slightly larger than the inside of the tube 1, in order that Patented Jan. 3, 1956 3 the rubber washer 13 may fold over it, but not enough to block the ball completely.

In the modification of Fig. 8, a barrel 36 is mounted in a stock 50 of plastic, metal or any other suitable materia-l. A door or closure 33 is hinged at 51 and is kept closedoi' locked by means of a latch 34. A piston cyl-' inder 52 is also secured in the stock 50 and a piston 39 is slidably provided in the cylinder 52. The piston 39 has a handle or grip portion 53 at the outer end with a sealing disc 54 and bumper 55 at the other or inner end. The muzzle end of the barrel 36 is provided with a resilient, preferably rubber sleeve 35 with an inturned outer end 37. The air pressure built up in the cylinder 52 by the disc 54 will force the air through the tube 57 past the check-valve 58 and behind the last ball 59. The balls 56 are loaded through the hinged door 33 by opening the lock 34. The rubber sleeve 35 is stretched tightly over the end of the barrel 36 and the tapering portion at the point 37 helps wedge the ball 56 in place ready for the next shot. As the air pressure is built up behind the ball 56, the rubber 37 stretches and allows the ball to pop out as in the first modification of Figs. 1 to 6.

If the muzzle end is constructed as shown in Figs. 9 and 10, the balls may be loaded into the end of the instead of providing a trap door 33. It is also possible to load the balls through the rubber sleeve 35 and eliminate the door 33, which, however, may not be as convenient.

Fig. 9 shows a modified muzzle end 61 with a rubber ring 62 against which the balls are forced or wedged by air pressure in the barrel 63. In Fig. the muzzle end 64 is secured on the barrel 65 with the rubber wedge ring 66 secured in an enlarged portion 67 with a spacing cylinder 68. The structures of Figs. 9 and 10 function and operate similarly to the portion 37 of the sleeve 35 of Fig. 8A.

It is, of course, obvious that the entire gun can be made of plastic materials such as hard rubber, gutta-percha, synthetic resins and cellulose and others, as well as of metals such as aluminum and its alloys. In its operation thepiston is actuated manually such as by a single stroke which builds up air pressure to force a ball from the muzzle of the gun. When so projected the piston is moved manually in the opposite direction of reciprocation to prepare for the next air pressure stroke of the piston. The gun thus operates on a repeater principle.

While the gun is most adaptable as a toy, it can be used for target practice but is absolutely harmless in that it is designed to use comparatively light missiles such as the well known ping pong balls made usually of Celluloid and other plastics. g

It is, of course, obvious that the structures described and illustrated are capable of modification within the scope of the appended claims.

It is also obvious that the closure 33 of Fig. 8 and the closure 3 of Fig. 2 may be dispensed with by permanently closing the respective ends of the barrel and to feed the series of balls into the barrel through the muzzle end past the washer 13 of Fig. 2A and portion 37 of Fig. 8A. In such construction the closures and also the latches and operators may be dispensed with.

It is also within the scope of this invention to design the barrel of the pump of such length so that on each stroke of the piston a burst of two or more balls may be propelled from the gun one after the other with a very slight interval between the two or more balls.

I claim as my invention:

1. An air gun comprising a tubular barrel adapted to hold a series of projectiles and having an open muzzle end and a closed breach end, an annular resilient sleeve at the muzzle end of the barrel having a portion normally of smaller diameter than the projectiles to maintain the projectiles in the barrel and to seal against the projectiles and which is yielding to permit the projectiles to be projected in series from the muzzle end of the barrel, a fluid connection to the barrel adjacent to its breach end, a check valve in the connection opening toward the barrel, and a pump communicating with the connection to supply intermittent charges of air pressure therethrough to the breach end of the barrel, the barrel being unobstructed from the sleeve to the breach thereof and the projectiles being moved through the barrel from the breach toward the muzzle end solely by air pressure but fitting loosely enough in the barrel that the air may pass them to force the first projectile of the series past the resilient sleeve and the resilient sleeve flexing back to catch and seal against the next following projectile after the discharge of each projectile.

2. An air gun comprising a tubular barrel adapted to hold a series of projectiles and having an open muzzle end and a closed breach end,- yielding means at the muzzle end or the barrel to maintain the projectiles in the barrel and which is yielding to permit the projectiles to be projected in series from the muzzle end of the barrel, a fluid connection to the barrel adjacent to its breach end, the barrel having a charging opening therein adjacent to its breaeh end, a pivoted closure for the charging opening, and latch means to hold the closure in closed position.

3. An air gun comprising a tubular barrel adapted to hold a series of projectiles and having an open muzzle end and a closed breach end, yielding means at the muzzle end of the barrel to maintain the projectiles in the barrel and which is yielding to permit the projectiles to be projected in series from the muzzle end of the barrel, a tluid connect-ion re the barrel adjacent to its breach end, the barrel having a charging opening therein adjacent to its breach end, a pivoted closure for the charging opening, and a toggle linkage connected to the closure to latch it in closed position and to open it for loading projectiles into the barrel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 429,499 Bunsen -a June 3, 1890 1,171,197 Harmon Feb. 8, 1916 1,545,465 .lohnstone et al. July 7, 1925 2,296,85 Bpynton Sept. 29, 1942 2,375,607 Wulfert May 8, 1945 2,450,029 Wells Sept. 28, 1948 2,505,428 Pope I Apr. 25, 1950 2,574,408 Moe Nov. 6, 1951 2,601,555 Pope June 24, 1952 2,630,108 White Mar. 3, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 322,476 Italy Nov. 13, 193 

